Hiker Rescued After 6 Days on Mount Hood

College student fell 40 feet

Six days after she set out to hike 11,235-foot Mount Hood, a 23year old who got lost and fell in a canyon during a snowstorm was located by a helicopter and rescued. Fox College student Mary Owen made the trip alone after a group of friends decided not to join her during spring break. "It was a really headstrong decision," she told The Oregonian.

The following details from her survival ordeal appeared in The Oregonian. Owens set on Sunday morning, March 24, to hike the mountain, and got caught in a snowstorm roughly 1,000 feet from her destination. The white out conditions led her to mistakenly walk into a canyon she could not climb out of due to deep snow. On Monday morning, she fell roughly 40 feet over rocky terrain and injured her leg. She built a fire to melt water, dug a snow hole, and rationed her Nutri-Grain bars, crackers, ramen noodles, and chia seeds. On Wednesday, she ran out of food, her friends began to worry, and her parents called police. On Thursday, police found her car and began searching. She was rescued by a helicopter on Saturday after climbing up to a ridgeline. Owens was taken to a hospital due to a cut on her thigh, a minor injury to her right leg, and frostbite on both feet.